Shenseea, Beam, Masego Among Jamaicans On Grammy Nominated Albums
Nominations for the 64th Annual Grammy Awards have been announced, and besides those picked for Best Reggae Album , several other Jamaican artists and producers have reason to celebrate. This includes Shenseea, BEAM, and Buju Banton, who are the first Jamaican artists to be nominated for Album Of The Year.
Beginning this year, the Recording Academy has stipulated that, if an album is up for Album Of The Year, then all credited featured artists, songwriters of new material, producers, recording engineers, mixers, and mastering engineers who worked on that album are automatically nominated. Previously, the Grammy rule stated that all of these music professionals had to be credited with 33 percent or more of playing time (on the album), in order to be nominated.
Here are the Jamaican artists that are nominated and/or have contributed to non-Reggae Grammy categories.
Shenseea, whose real name is Chinsea Lee has good reason to celebrate after Kanye West’s Donda, got nods for Album Of The Year and Best Rap Album. The 25-year-old singer is now a Grammy-nominated artist after she was credited for her songwriting and vocals on OK OK Pt 2 and Pure Souls featuring Roddy Rich, which peaked at No. 12 and 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 , respectively.
Reggae/Dancehall star Buju Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, is also credited on the West’s 27-track set on the love song Believe What I Say .
Beam contributed to Justin Bieber’s album Justice, which received nods for Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. The 26-year-old, who recently welcomed his first child, is featured on the song Love You Different. Justice debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
In the Best Dance/Electronic Album category, Major Lazer, a DJ trio of Diplo, Walshy Fire & Ape Drums which originates from Kingston, is among the six contenders for their Music Is The Weapon (Reloaded) project. The 17-track set featured Jamaican acts Shenseea and Beam, who are featured on Tiny ; Busy Signal on the single Sun Comes Up alongside JoeBoy; and two-time Grammy nominee Skip Marley on Can’t Take It From Me . Beam, the son of Jamaican singer Papa San, was also featured on two more tracks, namely Bam Bam with French Montana, and Rave de Favela with MC Lan and Anitta.
The very Blessed singer, Shenseea also collaborated on Silver Tongue Devil with Jamaican-American singer Masego, who has picked up a nomination for Best Progressive R&B Album with his EP titled Studying Abroad: Extended Stay, on which their sultry collab was featured.
Jamaican producer IzyBeats–the beatmaker on Koffee’s international breakout hit song Toast–co-produced Silver Tongue Devil alongside Corbett and Chris Madine, and had also contributed to a second song on the EP titled Yebo/Sema.
Masego and Jamaican producer J.L.L., whose 2014 beat was sampled on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy (CLB) album, will both share a part of the victory if the Canadian rapper wins in the Best Rap Album category.
J.L.L. created a mid-tempo beat seven years ago, that was inspired by Singers Unlimited’s Emily. It was later used by Masego on the track Navajo, which was then sampled by Drake on CLB’s opener, Champagne Poetry .
In the Best Global Music Album category, Nigerian singer WizKid is among five nominees for his album Made In Lagos: Deluxe Edition. The project features contributions from Jamaican artists Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley on the song Blessed, and rising artist Projexx, on the song True Love with Tay Iwa.
The final round of voting for the 64th Annual Grammy Awards will begin on December 6, 2021, and end on January 5, 2022. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony, which will take place at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Monday, January 31, 2022.